Deputy Sheriff Basil S. Stakes

Basil S. Stakes

Two meat markets were having a business feud over territory. A confrontation occurred where two employees were shot and killed by two employees of the rival company.

Deputies W. C. Woods, Basil S. “Shorty” Stakes and citizen Arthur Sanders attempted to arrest the two men. While accounts vary, the two suspects resisted arrest and one of the suspects had a pistol and other suspect had a rifle. Deputy Stakes took a rifle away from one of the men and was using it to subdue them when it either accidentally discharged, or one of the men shot him with a .38 caliber revolver. Deputy Stakes was shot in the face just under his left eye, and he died at the scene.

The Grand Jury met two days later and indicted both men. The two men - Frank Wilkes and Herbert Batchan - were tried, convicted and sentenced to death several days later for killing the two business rivals. Both men appealed. In a second trial, Wilkes was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the death of Deputy Stakes, but the case was reversed and remanded in 1926. Wilkes died in prison during his appeals on March 1, 1926. Batchan’s death sentence was reversed and remanded, and there was no appeals court record of a second trial.

Stakes was 29 years old at the time of his death. There was no mention of any surviving wife or children. He was survived by his parents. He was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Orange, Texas.